By A.J. Kaufman, Managing Editor
Donna Henry assumed office as the eighth Chancellor of the University of Virginia’s College at Wise in January 2013. Some of her accomplishments include record-setting enrollment, endowment growth, faculty retention and more. Given our theme of higher education, the Business Journal believes Henry is an important interview subject this month.
Business Journal: Tell us about your background and why you decided to come to Wise more than 13 years ago.
Donna Henry: I grew up in Philadelphia, did my undergrad work at Penn, and my PhD in physiology. I moved to North Carolina and then realized that sitting in a research lab wasn’t what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. I like more social settings. That was when I thought maybe I should explore a teaching career. I took a little break and moved to Miami and got hired at St. Thomas University and began my teaching career there. I was brought into administration early on in my career and became
a department chair with the encouragement of my colleagues. I was always thinking of what’s next. Florida was building a new state institution…I helped to build Florida Gulf Coast University, literally from the ground up. I really immersed myself in higher ed. I stayed there for 17 years and became the dean of Arts and Sciences.
The core of my belief is that a strong liberal arts degree is so critical for understanding. I think the broad learning you get is important for how you think, work and interact with others. A search firm called me and talked about UVA-Wise and opportunity to be chancellor here. I had never lived in a rural area, so I was intrigued by that. But these focus on liberal arts I felt was important, and the connection to the community of Southwest Virginia was an important piece. The more I learned about UVA Wise…I was intrigued, and when I was offered the job, I jumped at the opportunity. It’s been a great place for me to come and to help the institution serve Southwest Virginia in good and creative ways.
BJ: While four-year college enrollment has declined gradually over the last decade, Wise’s enrollment is increasing…What’s been your strategy to buck the national trend?
DH: When I came to Wise in 2013, this region was dependent on the coal industry, and the economy here had gone through a major shift, a lot less reliant on coal, so those jobs were reduced heavily, and people were moving out to go somewhere to find work. So, I knew we needed to find some strategies and expand our reach for students.
Most of our students were from Southwest Virginia, but with the decline going on, I knew that was not sustainable. We began to recruit students from Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads. But that’s a long drive…We are in the heart of Appalachia. Some of the economic issues we deal with, other counties in Appalachia are dealing with the same struggles, and we felt students from those counties might feel that UVA Wise was more like their homes. We petitioned the legislature of Virginia to allow students from the Appalachian region to come to UVA Wise and we could offer them an education for the equivalent of in-state tuition. It made it a lot more affordable for students in counties surrounding us. That has been a game changer for us.
Half of our enrollment is from Southwest Virginia, with 30% from elsewhere in Virginia, but about 20% of our enrollment is from the federally designated region of Appalachia; it’s about 423 counties (13 states). That has given us the ability to recruit in a three-hour radius from the college. It’s a comfortable region. We now have name recognition at high schools across the region, and it has helped us to buck the trends. We also have modernized how we recruit students…We have stepped up our marketing plan in how we reach out to students to make sure we have strong communication.
BJ: The business community in the Appalachian Highlands constantly discusses retaining college graduates in our region. What kind of workforce opportunities can enable that?
DH: Some of our strongest programs are education and nursing. Most of those graduates stay in the region. Our business programs are growing, and we have a strong accounting program. Those students tend to stay in the region. We just added a Tourism and Hospitality program. Southwest Virginia is trying to reinvent itself in tourism, and with boutique hotels, we felt those programs could support development in those areas.
We have hosted our economic forum for 11 years to talk about how to revitalize towns. Many commonwealth attorneys in this region are UVA Wise alumni, and they come back after getting their law degree. We have a computer science and engineering degree to support CGI and Northrop Grumman’s workforce. When people come here, there’s an affinity to the region; they want to be here, so we are trying to create opportunities for them to stay. We have a strong entrepreneurship program now to help people start businesses across the region in different areas, so they can create their own opportunity and stay. Those are some of the levers we try to pull.
BJ: What is the status of your agreements with area community colleges for transfers? Also, dual enrollments with high school students and non-traditional students are growing. Tell us more.
DH: We do some programming with local high schools that count. We have some 2+2 programs we created with our community colleges to make it more seamless for them to get their two-year degrees, and they can articulate immediately into a 2+2 program. We have education, business and nursing. Many students who get the two-year degree want to go into the workforce…You can enroll in our program and actually get your BSN degree while you’re working. We created the same with education for teacher aides who want to get a degree to be a full-time classroom teacher. We are really excited about those programs, and I think they will have a big impact.
In business, a lot of working adults want to get a degree, maybe in management. They now have the ability to do that through UVA Wise as well. Students who go to Virginia Highlands Community College, Southwest Virginia and Mountain Empire are our biggest feeders, but we also developed relationships with Wytheville, New River College and Northeast State. Students talk about how easy it was to transition to UVA Wise. With in-state tuition from Tennessee, it’s affordable.
We may see more nontraditional with some of the 2+2 programs, but I suspect they may be more online students. We have a unique program where practicing teachers can do certification or recertification classes through an online program. We enroll 8-900 teachers per year. Most are nontraditional age.
BJ: Anything else new on the horizon for the fall or the coming year to share with our readers, particularly regarding business or economic development?
DH: We have a master’s degree program in the final stages of review. It’s in business management and data analytics. That helps folks in the business world or hospitals who need to understand how to manage big data. It’s something we hear from all the employers. We created the degree program in such a way so that if you’re working, you can take the classes you need. I’m very excited about offering that degree program, and I think it will have a large impact across the region.
